The Green movement is upon us and it particularly affects the floor covering industry. Flooring material of some kind whether soft surface or hard surface, is installed in virtually every building and home in the world, which makes for billions of square feet of eventual waste. Floor covering material is most often a fashion element of the space it’s installed in and though it can last decades in some cases, it doesn’t last forever. When floor covering is taken up it has to go someplace and today that someplace is any place but a land fill. The flooring industry is well aware of this and has been at the forefront of finding alternative uses for recycled flooring material or it has been re-used in new flooring. We’ve even taken one of the largest sources of waste material, plastic drink bottles (actually polyester) and used it to make new residential carpet.
Let’s look at some factors in each of the following categories to be considered in flooring sustainability:
- Social Responsibility – The floor covering industry has embraced environmental practices and in many cases is the model for other industries. We all live on this planet together and share it as one so we have no choice but to be responsible to our fellow inhabitants and subsequent generations. In doing so the flooring industry has in place a variety of specific programs to recycle, re-use and re-purpose flooring so it doesn’t go into a landfill.
Manufacturing Practices and Processes – the flooring industry has been and continues to eliminate processes that are time, energy and money wasters. More new technology has been implemented to manufacture floor covering in the last several years than ever before. In fact there is so much new technology available that it can’t be absorbed into the manufacturing process fast enough. For example new tufting machines that can produce both elaborately styled commercial carpet and solid colored residential carpet that can change at the push of a button. These machines can do the work of and replace 2 to 3 older style tufting machines. There’s less time and energy wasted. There are also fewer batch processes being used and more continuous processes being employed making manufacturing more efficient. In the quest to become more efficient and to control costs the flooring industry has actually become more environmentally and socially responsible by wasting less of everything.
- Distribution innovations – getting the product to the job site entails wrapping, packaging, shipping and handling. Less is more in this area. Carpet tiles are often put on pallets, without being boxed and wrapped with recyclable plastic wrap. The pallets can be reused, recycled or re-purposed.
- Renewable materials – the flooring industry’s products can be renewed. Cork, wood and bamboo are all products used in floor covering that can be renewed with new growth. Cork Oak trees, for example, can last for hundreds of years yielding new cork bark every several years. Bio based chemistry is being used to produce carpet fiber, such as Triexta, carpet backing and carpet cushion.
- Recycled content – recycled content can be used in flooring material such as backing for carpet tiles and polyester face fiber. Woven Axminster carpet can now be turned into carpet cushion and continue to be recycled in a continuous loop.
- Recyclability – flooring products are being produced with recyclability in mind at the inception of their life. This is another aspect of social responsibility and manufacturing efficiency. Everyday the industry learns something new to make their products recyclable to minimize waste in all aspects of the manufacturing process.
- Toxicity – virtually every floor covering product has eliminated any toxicity that may have existed in older generations of the products. Low odor and low VOC’s are a given and any issues that do exist are being addressed with new and evolving technologies, such as the dwindling use of PVC’s.
- Life Cycle – “Get it in the door and keep it on the floor” should be the mantra with every flooring material on every project. The right product in the right place, installed and cared for properly will maximize the life of the product. This may actually be the most challenging part of making floor covering green. The biggest waste of resources and materials are the mis – specification of the flooring material and failed installations which cause premature replacement of the flooring material. A major challenge exists to end the ignorance that causes this type of waste. You’ve heard the saying, “haste makes waste” well when projects or jobs are rushed they can and do create waste. Why is everyone in such a hurry to get the job done only to have to come back later and fix all the mistakes? This is the epitome of waste and a wanton disregard for it.
- Installation – unless the flooring product is properly installed over a substrate that will accommodate an uncompromised installation and the environment conducive to maintaining the installation, failure of some kind to varying degrees is inevitable. Here advancements in mechanical bond, moisture resistant adhesives and adhesive free backings and advanced installation systems will prevent installation failures. The paradigm shifts in this area are perhaps the most difficult for the industry to swallow but be assured the technology is real. Part of the challenge is the use of recycled content in flooring material backings and concrete substrates that makes installation difficult if not impossible in some cases. Without spending tens of thousands of dollars, and often more, to remediate existing conditions so flooring can be successfully installed there will be no “keeping it on the floor.” But, a host of new technologies recently developed can and do overcome conditions that up to this point wrecked havoc with installations and cost upwards of millions of dollars to fix. The hurdle is acceptance by the industry for the new systems. Historically suspect of such things due to the “not invented here” syndrome, flooring manufacturers and the flooring industry in general are apprehensive about what may be perceived as “magic wand” science. This category actually holds the most promise for virtually eliminating installation failures. The fact and proof is that the technology actually does work.
- Maintenance – if the flooring material is not properly cared for it can’t last. It will “ugly out” faster than a speeding bullet if not taken care of. This category can also include the right surface on the product and the right colors being used. If the color is too light and won’t mask, hide or mute soil the flooring material will be doomed to a short life. Properly cared for with a planned maintenance program, correctly implemented any flooring material will last until you get tired of looking at it.
All of what’s been discussed and more is cost effective, in fact, much of what makes flooring sustainable actually can and does cost less in the long run. Yes, it will take more time to get things just right but it will happen – it’s already well underway. It will take the rest of society time to catch up to a new way of thinking to really put the solutions available now and developing into practice.